The kingdom of Dahomey was
located in what is now Benin, bordered by Togo on the west and Nigeria on the
east. According to some accounts, the origin of these women warriors may have been
as elephant hunters, possibly as early as the 1600’s during the reign of King
Wegbaja. What is known with greater certainty is that by the 1700’s women were
beingused as law-enforcers and
palace guards. In Dohemey, no male (other than eunuchs) were allowed in the
royal palace after dark, and few entered in daytime. This left guarding the
palace to eunuchs and a certain number of armed women.

The transformation of these
palace guards into a “regular” army, with its own set of commanders, occurred
around 1830, when King Gezo needed to bolster the number of troops in the
Dahomian army, a move that was especially important to Dahomey, since the
kingdom was often at war with numerically superior opponents.

These warriors were often
observed by visiting Europeans at state ceremonies and staged “mock” battles,
and by most accounts (with the exception of noted traveler Sir Richard Burton)
the visitors reported their fighting skills to be the equal of(and usually superior to) those of the
males in the dohomian army.

The first Europeans to
observe them in actual battle were missionaries living in nearby Abeokuta,
which Dohomey attacked in 1851 and again in 1864. Their accounts indicate that
the female contingents of the Dahomian army fought fiercely and bravely.
Although Dahomey lost both times, the only ones to breach the defenses of
Abeokuta were the “amazons”.

The last Europeans to provide
eyewitness accounts of the “amazons” in battle were the French colonial
military, who defeated Dahomey in the second of two franco-dahomian wars in
1892. Again the ferocity and capability of the women warriors were noted, in
this case by their better-equipped European opponents.

Throughout the century and a
half that “amazons” served as regular military, they seem to have comprise
roughly one quarter of the dahomian army. Throughout this period, their main
weaponry was the musket and a machete-like short sword. They also usually
carried an oversized folding straight-razor, used for beheading their victims.
(It was a common custom in the region to return home with the head and genitals
of those who were killed). By the second franco-dahomian war, breech-loading
rifles had been adopted. However, they were no match for the superior rifles
and bayonets of the French.

While many of the women were
natives of Dahomey, many were captives from neighboring kingdoms. By all
accounts they were fiercely loyal to the king. In their occupation they were to
remain celibate. They considered themselves to be “men”, and derided defeated
male opponents as “women”.

The last surviving “amazons”
are reputed to have lived into the mid-Twentieth Century.

For more information the two
following books provide a wealth of information on these women, including an
extensive compilation of original sources:

Robert B. Edgerton (2000), Warrior
Women: The Amazons of Dahomey and the Nature of War, Westview Press.

Stanley B. Alpern (1998), Amazons
of Black Sparta: The Women Warriors of Dahomey, New York University Press.